Feminism has taken a serious beating over the last few years. It's a word that gets used to symbolize, not the freedom of oppression that brave women fought, and died for, but the cult of masculine lesbians, and women too ugly to be loved. The truth is that a women should be proud to say she is a feminist. She should be proud to count herself amongst her ancestors who stood for change, and equality in a changing time. Being a man myself I must state though, that the line must be drawn somewhere. I believe in equality for all walks of life, if a woman cannot do what a man can do then that job should be for the man, and vice versa. In a standard agility test for the position of police officer in the city of Baltimore a man is expected to do twice the amount of physical labor to pass than the woman, that isn't fair to either sex. The man will be passed over for the job if he is incapable, and the woman has the feeling of inadequacy with her male partners. Where in the same vein most operators for companies are women because their voices are considered smoother, and easier to talk to then men's are. This shows another great divide in what we call fair in this country. As far as things stand women will out number men in workforce due to layoffs being very heavily weighed on the male gender with the economic recession. Is this fair? No, but is it sexism? No men happen to be more often in positions where they are expendable, that's all. There is no great evil hand swinging the ax down, and saying men are more worthless, or women are more valuable. Our standards, and practices for hiring leave jobs, especially labor extensive jobs less desirable for women then they do for men. These are our cultural nuances, where other countries have theirs. Is it right, no, but it is how it is because the people that have the power to change it are afraid of being called feminists or chauvinistic. These are words, long dirty words the cut the soul, and bleed the heart. Words that tear you down, but they are not sticks or stones, or fire houses. These are not batons with riot shields, or ieds, they are words that do little but hurt, and never kill. We have another word in the English tapestry a word given only four letters, and means so much that it has started wars, and ended lives. It changed the face of the world with a single utterance. We have FREE, what word could be more powerful. Never be ashamed to be called anything, especially not revolutionary, like the women who fought to make this country one where women aren't lashed for adultery. They made sure that everyone was equal no one better than the next. Stay free.

Timothy Leary said, "Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition." And many people believe (not incorrectly, often) that in order to be considered equal to men, women must work twice as hard. And it's true; women think that they must act more manly to be taken as seriously as men, and consequently rise in their professions. As far as your example with the police training, I have to agree with the policy because there are some things that, physically, women cannot do as well as men. We are simply not built that way. But barring physical abilities, a woman can do anything a man can do, intellectually and emotionally.

Reply

Merit13

12/29/2010 01:18:47 am

Women, can do many things that men can do, have you ever seen a female construction worker? These women are asked to meet the same requirements as the men the work next to, and they do. They train themselves to work as hard as their male counterparts. With equality comes both the positive, and the negative. Some men put their minds, and bodies through hell to maintain a job that is incredibly physically demanding, women should be asked to do the same, if they want to be treated equally. I have had jobs were i have worked alongside, above r below women in the workforce. Some of them have gotten there because of their looks, and some have worked for it. You can always tell, the same way you can tell when a women boss promotes a handsome man who isn't qualified for the promotion. Women tend to forget that in the struggle to prove they can do anything a man can do, that men can do anything they can do, barring baring children. I am not asking for life to be harder on women then men, just for it be the same challenges for both genders. In this country the hardest thing to be statistically speaking is a lower class, caucasian male, seeking higher education. Universities get a tax cut for having women, minorities, and the disabled. None for poor white boys. Is it fair, no. It just is the way it is. 2000 years of saying that women are the weaker sex, and black aren't truly human does come back to bite on in the metaphorical ass. So we bite our tongues, when we should speak, and we invade the media with images of hairy ugly women feminists. There be monsters here, I'm afraid.

As a woman, there is a bit of an oxymoron, a paradox, if you will, that I am very conscious of. On the one hand, I want to be considered as equal to, or capable of bing equal to, a man. I don't want people, especially men, to take pity on me or to make things easier on me simply because I'm a woman. I want to put in the hard work and show that anything they can do, I can do (sometimes better).

But at the same time, I want to be respected as a woman, and I think this is where some confusion arises. I want a guy to hold the door open for me (but not act like I can't open the door myself). I want a guy to pull out my chair for me, to stand up when he meets me (but not be so arrogant as to order my dinner for me). And I'm not talking about a romantic context only. In the workplace, it would be annoying to be constantly asked if I need help, because it would make me feel like a child, quite frankly. But at the same time, one well-timed offer of assistance is appreciated. So there is a balance needed. We want to be recognized as equals, yet respected as women.